With the HBO “Hard Knocks” cameras rolling and the ears of Rams fans and NFL fans certain to be listening, Jeff Fisher boldly bet on himself and his team last August.

“I am not f—ing going 7-9 or 8-8 or 9-7, OK?,” Fisher declared during a team meeting.

But he wasn’t done.

“Or 10-6 for that matter. This team is too talented. I am not going to settle for that, OK?”

Fisher’s proclamation was in response to free agent wide receiver Deon Long breaking a team rule on the eve of training camp, for which he was subsequently released. The veteran coach used Long’s infraction as an example of undisciplined conduct dragging down a team’s performance.

By cutting Long on the spot, Fisher sent a warning to his players he wasn’t about to tolerate any sort of behavior that might sabotage the Rams record.

But he did so much more than that.

Fisher not only established a baseline record for the Rams — who have been stuck under the .500 threshold in each of his first four seasons as head coach — he also set the standard by which his future with the club should be measured.

Sitting at the foot of the final year of his contract, Fisher declared the Rams capable of finally turning the corner from the 7-9 teams they’ve been the last four years to something much more prosperous.

The implication — inadvertent as it might be — was clear: If the Rams fall short of Fisher’s established baseline, what does that say for him as their coach?

Nearly three months later, Fisher’s words ring louder and louder.

The Rams have stumbled to an all-too-familiar 3-4 record through the first seven games.

Where they once stood 3-1 and dreamed of a division title and a playoff run, the talk now is of regrouping during their bye week, nursing injured players back to health, eliminating frustrating and back-breaking penalties and turnovers and figuring out a way to finally unleash second-year running back Todd Gurley, the declared focal point of the Rams offense who has inexplicably dissolved into an enigma while operating behind an offensive line that grades out as one of the worst in the NFL and alongside a passing game for which opposing defenses show little respect.

As for Fisher, where there was once talk of an inevitable contract extension — a reward for how he handled the Rams move from St. Louis to Los Angeles and reconstructing a depleted roster — the sense now is the Rams will wait to see where they stand at the end of the season before renewing their vows with him.

That should be clear, yes?

“I am not f—ing going 7-9 or 8-8 or 9-7, OK?,” Fisher told his team, his bosses and the football world.

His words.

His expectations.

But as he peeks ahead to the second half of the season, the math seems to be working against him.

In Fisher’s own estimation, the Rams are capable of finishing 10-6.

To reach that point, they have to go 7-2 over their final nine games. To get to 9-7 — the likely cutoff mark for playoff contention — they’d have to go 6-3.

In theory, that’s possible.

In probability, it seems incredibly ambitious and far-fetched.

The Rams have been frustratingly close to winning three of the four games they lost.

On the other hand, the line separating their wins from losses is extraordinarily thin, all of them the result of last-second plays by the defense.

Unable to rapidly roll off touchdowns behind Case Keenum and a limited passing attack, the Rams inevitably find themselves in close games with precious little margin for error.

An offensive line ill-equipped to win the line of scrimmage not only limits Gurley’s big-play chances, it also negates him as a weapon to close out games with extended, time-consuming drives.

And a team-wide penchant for committing ill-timed penalties — a recurring theme under Fisher — often sabotages potential scoring drives or extends them for the opponent.

In order to roll off six or seven wins over their final nine games, the Rams must find answers and consistent remedies to all those key issues.

In theory, that’s possible.

But in reality, it seems far fetched.

For now, Fisher is adamant his goals for these Rams remain in reach.

So he will stick with Keenum rather than hand the keys to the present and future to Jared Goff, the top pick in last April’s draft and a quarterback the Rams committed six draft picks into acquiring.

But then, he has little choice but to remain true to the plan.

Fisher backed himself into a corner last August by creating self-imposed expectations.

“I am not f—ing going 7-9 or 8-8 or 9-7, OK?”

The Rams have nine games left to push through that decade-old ceiling.

Vincent Bonsignore is an NFL columnist for the Southern California News Group. Having covered the Los Angeles sports scene for more than two decades, Bonsignore has emerged as one of the leading voices on the Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers, the NFL and NFL relocation.